We came to Amanda after our son Lawrence was born as literally the day he was born, our 3-year-old daughter Sophia stopped sleeping! She had always been a great sleeper – minor blips with illness but slept through from 5 months old, we were blessed – or so we thought. We had prepared her well for the sibling arrival, and she was excited. I believe initially it was a bit of jealousy, then hatred of sharing us although all along she was amazing with Lawrence.
However, the sleep went from bad to worse. Initially waking up at 5, then at 4, then 3 and so on without any chance of getting her back to sleep – so she came and slept with us. Then we couldn’t get her to sleep – every excuse under the sun, I need a poo, a wee, too dark, too light, etc. This progressed to one of us having to go to sleep at 7pm with her in our bed to ensure she got some sleep. Her daytime behaviour was impossible, and we were literally at our wit’s end. Overnight she had also stopped her afternoon 2-hour nap – she was a child that needed her sleep and always loved it.
We were desperate. No matter what we tried it made the situation ten times worse!
Our first consultation was a relief. Someone who understood, reassured us Sophia wasn’t mad and that it was simply separation anxiety. A lot had changed for Sophia in the previous few months, change of school, me being off so no childminder, then a change of teacher at the school and Lawrence was the last straw for her to cope with. Amanda listened and gave a brilliant third-party opinion, a support initially when with sleep deprivation we were both emotional wrecks!
I loved the fact she looked at the whole day and the food – which made a massive impact upon us. We finally felt Amanda had helped us to gain control, rather than our 3 year old controlling us! The routine was a relief, and we stuck to it to the letter – everyone knew where we stood, including Sophia. The training did not come without challenges, to the extent that we tried some novel techniques or I don’t think we could have stuck it out. But slowly, gradually with time, she gave in. Ours certainly wasn’t the fastest recovery, but it was with peace and calmness – I couldn’t have any more tears from either of us. Her confidence started to grow, her sleep improved and her daytime behaviour subsequently changed.
After 6 weeks we had gone from hell to heaven. Sophia was excited with her rewards and the ‘sleep fairy’ was a very much respected person in our household. We have a strategy, we are in charge and finally we have a toddler who sleeps with just occasional minor blips, but we are equipped to deal with the situation and can sort it quickly and with minimal stress compared to the nightmare it was before. We can’t thank Amanda enough for her kind, resilient, caring, compassionate, patience-of-a-saint ways.
Now to sort out Lawrence… Amanda??!
